Three federal judges in Oxford, Miss., will hear arguments Friday in the lawsuit by a homeschooling activist and conservative attorney that challenges the way the 435 House seats are divided among the 50 states.

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The Justice Department says it’s the duty of Congress, not the courts, to decide how many seats are in the House. A similar suit was tossed out in federal court in New York in 1983, and experts think this one’s chances are not good either.

“I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I’m surprised that they’re hearing it,” James Thurber, founder and director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington, said Wednesday.

Assistant Attorney General Tony West and others representing the government wrote that a similar challenge was dismissed in 1983, and that this lawsuit seeks “to restructure an entire branch of the federal government at its most fundamental level. Courts lack the power to do so.”